TradeStack Back
Glossary / Market structure

After-hours trading

Definition

Trading after the regular session closes.

Why it matters

Earnings moves happen here on low volume, so slippage often exceeds the theoretical edge of the reaction trade.

Example

An earnings move that runs 6% after 16:00 often gives back half of it at the next open - one reason many journals show negative expectancy on after-hours entries.

How to track it in a journal

TradeStack calculates the core performance numbers — win rate, average win and loss, profit factor, expectancy, drawdown and consistency — automatically from imported trades, so after-hours trading stops being something you estimate and becomes something you read.

Related terms

Slippage
The difference between your expected fill price and the price you actually get.
Spread
The gap between the best bid and the best ask.
Liquidity
How much size a market can absorb without moving price.
Volatility
How much price moves over a given period.

Keep reading

Trading journal guides
Expectancy, profit factor, drawdown, backtesting and the PDT rule.
Free trading calculators
Position size, risk-reward, expectancy and options profit.
Expectancy calculator
Expected profit per trade from your own numbers.
Broker CSV export guides
Step-by-step exports for Tradovate, NinjaTrader, IBKR and more.
Stop estimating your numbers

TradeStack is a free trading journal that calculates them from your own trades.

Start free